The Los Angeles Lakers general manager held his first press conference of the 2013-14 season, and as you might expect, there was no shortage of memorable quotes on all sorts of topics.

It should come as absolutely no surprise that Kupchak had to speak about Kobe Bryant's injury right off the bat. After all, that's the central focus in Tinseltown right now, as everyone waits with bated breath to see if the Mamba's Achilles will be in working order by opening night.

This is strange for the Lake Show, but the next biggest concern isn't actually the upcoming season.

Instead, it seems like everyone is looking ahead to the 2014 offseason and completely writing off 2013-14 as a lost cause. It's an afterthought compared to what could happen in the future. And further evidence for that was provided when Kupchak discussed that next fateful summer.

"Kobe's not going to play to lure somebody to Los Angeles, he's going to play to try to win games." - Kupchak #Lakers

There's no way that Kobe would ever go for a strategy that revolved around tanking. He'd greet any such suggestion with either a death stare or a derisive fit of laughter.

The 2014 draft class is also quite stacked—to a historical extent, perhaps—and there's plenty of talent beyond the No. 1 pick. While Andrew Wiggins is viewed as a generational talent, there are potential franchise studs littered throughout the lottery portion of most mock drafts.

But of course, not everything looked past the 2013-14 season in its entirety. Kupchak did spend some time analyzing the upcoming campaign, starting with a certain polarizing figure who holds a clipboard on the sideline.

"No coach has been able to control Kobe." said Kupchak. "And that's not going to change." #Lakers

The point guard didn't make a massive impact during his first season in L.A., but the Purple and Gold are hoping things will be different this year. Could they change if the veteran plays a more limited role, as Kupchak suggests?

Nash is the linchpin for this season. As he goes, so too will the team. Without a lot of established scoring talent, the onus is on him to create easy looks for his teammates and get the offense functioning at a high level to make up for the inevitably poor defensive efforts.

But he's only one aspect of the team going into what is sure to be a topsy-turvy and important year.

Kupchak didn't fail to deliver some interesting gems during his first press conference, and it's only going to get more intriguing from here.